Being a Working-class citizen isn't an easy life in America. A country full with pride, we take for granted those that work for minimum-wage or maybe even just over minimum. We all see them every moment, of every day. They clean our trash, mow our lawns, fill our vending machines and service us in our local chain stores.
What most people of the solidly middle and upper-classes don't see, is the ugly truth behind those smiling (or sometimes grimacing) faces. Faces we only see when they are selling us those wares that are never actually products of their own. Why? Because they are not managers, they are not supervisors and they sure as hell aren't business owners. The majority of retail and service workers are franchise or corporate wage-slaves.
Unlike what most in the upper classes seem to believe, these slave workers are not teenagers, they are not entry-level or first time workers; these are our friends, our family members, neighbors, parents, college graduates and non-grads alike. For example, the median age of a fast-food worker is in their mid-thirties. Does that sound like entry-level to you?
You see, all types work in the service and retail sector. Many have children or families to care for, maybe a sick relative or aging parent. And although these worker's jobs are essential to the economy, they are paid and treated mostly like disposable diapers. To be used until they've turned to shit and thrown out with the rest of the garbage. No pension, no 401k, just a, "Oh, you're mentally and physically exhausted to the point of depression? Find a new place to work."
And with that, bottom tier workers are often fired without explanation or quit because of compounded abuses and utter exhaustion, traits that are common to every retail and service sector job. Which, mind you, is the fastest growing sector of our economy.
These workers don't get vacations, rarely are they given enough hours to qualify for benefits and many of us are denied unemployment insurance when we finally do lose our jobs. For those strong enough to put up with the abuse, day-in and day-out, a lifetime of physical and mental illness usually awaits us. And don't forget, most of these jobs give you less than a week to receive your schedule! Now that is flexibility!
Since most of the jobs uneducated workers do find are only part-time; they often work two or more jobs -Granted if you're lucky enough not to be forced to be on-call at any given moment of every day- none of which offer healthcare or paid time-off.
In fact, workers earning below the median household income are actually dying earlier these days! That's right, low-income workers lifespans are actually declining! This is the damage done by a poorly rationed healthcare system in a nation of extreme inequality. Americans now rank 27th in the world for life-expectancy.
With an ever-shrinking Social Safety-net, and an ever growing wealth and income disparity, it's the lowest income brackets that are suffering from the worst mental and physical health among us. And why should any of this surprise us? Just ask any burger-flipping McDonald's worker 'what if any, benefits she or he receives and what their weekly earnings are?' Chances are, if you are solidly in the middle-class, you likely spend more money each week on groceries than what that McDonald's employee makes weekly.
All of this is by design and neglect. By design because those at the top need to squeeze every last penny in profits, by neglect because it's easy to neglect the poor when most of them don't have the time or ability to protest the way they're treated. They need every moment of every day just to get by and stay sane.
This is the world we've created over the last forty years. A world in which most people struggle daily, just to make enough money to eat. Many can't afford a car, and many don't necessarily live in cities. So lack of transportation limits your opportunities for earning a higher income or even trying to gain a better education.
Everyone makes mistakes in life, but it seems as though it's only the poor that suffer the repercussions for those mistakes every day for the rest of their lives. Whether it's trying to go back to school or finding a better paying job, starting out poor is the single largest obstacle to changing ones circumstances in life.
Maybe instead of punishing the poor, we would all fare better if we just reached out and gave them a helping hand back up. And if they make a mistake along the way; So what? Reach out your other hand.